Western United coach John Aloisi has paid tribute to the career of Nikolai Topor-Stanley after the defender celebrated his 350th A-League Men game with a 1-0 win over Melbourne City at AAMI Park on Friday night.
Topor-Stanley and the United defence held fast against a blunt City attack to secure their fifth 1-0 win of the season, leapfrogging City back into second-place on the table thanks to Steven Lustica’s 71st-minute strike.
The veteran defender is only the second player in ALM history to reach the milestone and received a guard of honour from City following the contest.
He needs only eight more games to match current record holder Andrew Durante.
“The career he’s had, the person he is, the professional he is, he deserved all three points,” Aloisi said post-game.
“He deserved to celebrate with the players and it was great that Melbourne City also gave him a guard of honour.
“I thought that was really respectful and just goes to show what type of person he is and how he’s thought of about throughout the league.”
Missing Jamie Maclaren, Mat Leckie, Marco Tilio, and Connor Metcalfe to Socceroos duty and Andrew Nabbout and Curtis Good to injury and illness, City monopolised possession but struggled to create clear openings on goal.
Their best chances of the game arrived late in the first half when Scott Jamieson forced United keeper Jamie Young into a sharp save and a glancing Rostyn Griffiths header hit the crossbar.
“You talk about performance but you’ve got six Socceroos missing,” City coach Patrick Kisnorbo said.
“I said it to the players, it’s the best performance I’ve seen by a group. You take six players out of any team and you see what they deal with.
“I was really proud of the players. They adapted really well under every circumstance.”
Kisnorbo said he was unsure if his Socceroo quartet would be ready to contribute in their fixture against Perth Glory next Sunday.
Sparked to life by Dylan Pierias’ 66th-minute introduction, United won a penalty three minutes later when VAR adjudged Florin Berenguer to have unfairly used his arm to block a Leo Lacroix header.
Diamanti hit his resulting shot with power, but couldn’t beat Glover.
However, the ensuing jeers from the City faithful lit a fire under the United captain and moments later he turned provider when his blocked shot fell for Lustica to fire home his second goal in as many weeks.
